Just like educators and administrators, staff at edtech companies work year-round. Product development, sales outreach, relationship building, creation of marketing campaigns and much more require constant attention.
Similarly, the beginning of a new academic year is a special time for education professionals and edtech workers alike. As teachers and admins start a new year of work, your company has unique opportunities to reach out to these professionals and offer support during a complicated time in the world of education.
Effective outreach hinges on accurate data, from identifying programs, schools and districts that align with your edtech offerings to ensuring you can connect with the right education professionals at the right time. That means having current and accurate data on hand as well as staying mindful of domain reputation and the risks of email jail.
Email marketing is an especially crucial tool for effective outreach.
Data as the foundation for effective outreach strategy
Narrowing down your list of potential prospects is vital for effective, targeted marketing. Data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics indicated there were more than 130,000 primary and secondary schools in the U.S. during the 2017-2018 academic year. And that number increases to close to 140,000 when colleges and universities are included.
Further complicating matters is the fact that educators and administrators regularly start careers, retire, change positions and move between schools and districts. Sending an email that addresses a professional by a past title or is tied to responsibilities they no longer have is a great way to leave the rest of the message unread. And outreach that isn’t directed at an educator or administrator’s current place of work will likely never be opened, much less engaged with.
Agile is here to help your edtech company through access to dependable, current and accurate data related to the world of education, along with an array of data and marketing support and services. We want to highlight two more crucial considerations to ensure your digital marketing efforts connect with education professionals instead of sitting unread in a spam or promotions folder.
The importance of domain reputation and staying out of email jail
Domain reputation has a direct impact on whether the marketing messages you send via email make their way to the intended recipients’ primary inboxes or languish in spam folders. If your company doesn’t have strong domain reputation or unknowingly takes actions that lower this score, it becomes that much harder to effectively connect with prospects digitally and begin moving them through the sales funnel.
Email jail is the last thing edtech companies want to deal with when connecting with new prospects or building stronger bonds with existing ones. Your content can have great formatting, structure and intent but still run afoul of spam filters and similar security measures. DemandGen offered advice for getting out, and staying out, of email jail.
There are a wide range of reasons why domain reputation may not be as strong as you would like. Campaign Monitor pointed to high bounce and low open rates, along with a large number of spam complaints, as common causes. If you’re looking to improve your domain reputation, veteran digital marketer Neil Patel offered several pieces of advice for reaching that goal. Examples include narrowing down your list of recipients and confirming opt-in for the mailing list.
Making the most of the new school year
Edtech companies need an effective strategy for email outreach that doesn’t run afoul of the many rules and requirements put in place related to domain authority, email jail and similar concerns. With dependable contact and institutional data, Agile can give you an important advantage when it comes to planning and executing your campaigns. Reach out today to get started.
